Mini festival inlcuding reports

Picture of winning Primary 5 Cumnock team
P7 Coaches - Jim Faulds, Kevan Aitken, Danny McLaren
Winning Cumnock P7 team

This was a festival that was scheduled for last October but was cancelled due to inclement weather. However this did not diminish the quality of the rugby on show and produced two age group winners for Cumnock.

Over 160 primary school players from P3 to P7 competed against teams from Ardrossan, Dumfries and Kilmarnock in the quest for silverware.

The format used for these young players has been pioneered by Cumnock Rugby Club to promotes the use of the players skills as the mechanism to win the tournament and rather than the team who scores the most. “We tried to focus on encouraging the core skills that players of these age groups should be displaying” said Harry Reilly, one of the Festival Organisers. “Too many times we see teams at these age groups focussing on winning a tournament/festival rather than focusing on the basic skills that produce high quality players for the future”. These coaching principles are certainly showing results as Cumnock had four players selected for U16 Glasgow Warriors Squad which won the Inter District Championship today.

Primary 7 reports for Cumnock Mini Festival

Cumnock 8 Ardrossan 3

Cumnock were fired up for this game, closing down Ardrossan right from the start. Once Gregor Aitken got the first score after some great team interplay the result was never in any doubt. The midweek training session paid off with the forwards using their new move to pentetrate the Ardrossan defence again and again and by the interval Cumnock were 5-0 ahead. Some slackplay and poor defending let Ardrossan in for three scores, but Cumnock replied with three fine tries of their own. Man of the match for Cumnock was selected by the Ardrossan coach and was Andrew Harkiss who had put in a powerful performance in the centre of the pack. Cumnock scores came from Gregor Aitken (2), Jack Reilly (3), Taylor Howie and Aiden Kerr (2).

Cumnock 5 Kilmarnock 4

This was a terrific game played with great determination by both teams. The skill levels demonstrated by both teams were of an extremley high level and the crowd was treated to a wonderful game of rugby. Kilmarnock opened the scoring but Cumnock dug deep and responded quickly with a great move leading to a try for Jack Reilly. Both teams traded scores until Cumnock opened up a two point lead. After that the result wasn't in doubt and Cumnock held out for a fantastic win over their old rivals. Scores came from Jack Reilly, Taylor Howie, Andrew Harkiss, Zack North and Connor McSevenney. Special mention must be made of Man of the Match, Scott Faulds, who works away in the game, winning and securing ball for his team.

The P7 team were overall winners of the Festival and the coaching team of Kevan Aitken, Euan Kerr, Harry Reilly and Danny McLaren won the P7 coaches award for the way that they coached their players on the day, assisted by Jim Faulds. The Players Player of the day was Andrew Harkiss.

Cumnock P5 Match Reports

The Cumnock P5 team put in a great performance on Sunday at the clubs annual mini festival. The club were hosting teams from Ardrossan, Dumfries and Kilmarnock . The day produced 3 thrilling games of rugby at P5 level with the Cumnock team stepping up to the mark and securing victory in all of their games. Man of the match awards going to Sean Houston, Jack McSeveney and John Watt. The team also went on to win the overall award for their age group. This was a real recognition of the team's performance as this award is based on the team's execution of the core skills (running, tackling and support play) and not on game results. The P5 team which put in such a great performance were Calum Bell, Kory Galloway, Lucy Watt, Sean Houson, Tyler Wallace, John Watt, Calum Hendrie, Jack McSeveney and Rory Nimmo. Congratulations P5, you all put in a superb performance today.

Cumnock P3/4 Match Reports

Cumnock 11 – 12 Ardrossan

Cumnock kicked off their tournament against a dangerous Ardrossan team.

Unfortunately it took the side a few minutes to realise this and they quickly found themselves three scores down. After this slow start however Cumnock fought back with two quick-fire tries from Owen Young and from then on both sides scored freely with some tremendous attacking and support play from both sides.

Cumnock’s much improved support play was the most impressive aspect of this performance with breaks made by Alex Houston and Adam Watt ably followed up by Rob Drummond and Ross Watson Indeed it was noticeable that Cumnock’s overall team play was much better than that of Ardrossan whose man of the match scored ten of his sides tries in an impressive individual display.

Cumnock’s man of the match as selected by the Ardrossan coach was Austin McBirnie who put in probably his best performance of the season so far and had a hand in every move of the match, despite somehow not managing to score himself!

The rest of the scores came from Owen Young (7), Alex Houston (2) and Craig Sloan (2) and despite the result Cumnock could take a lot from this game as their attacking play was much better than in recent weeks.



Cumnock 4 – 10 Kilmarnock

This local derby was the sides other game of the day and they were confident of another competitive display following their impressive form in the opening game.

However the traditional Cumnock slow start was in action once more and the powerful runners of the Kilmarnock side took advantage of this score five tries before half time. Only one long range try from broken play by Adam Watt came in Cumnock’s favour.

The side rallied after a reminder at half time about the importance of tackling the opposition and they came flying out of the blocks for the second half with some excellent tackling by Ross Watson and Rob Drummond. This seemed to rattle Kilmarnock and it allowed Cumnock to run in tries from Owen Young, Alex Houston and another from Adam Watt.

Unfortunately this fight back was short lived as Kilmarnock ran in another five tries without reply as Cumnock’s defence seemed to go to sleep. The man of the match for this game was Adam Watt for his two tries and a tenacious defensive effort that many of his team mates could learn a lot from.

Ultimately this was mixed weekend for the P3/4s though several positive aspects such as an impressive attacking performance with some spectacular individual moments from several players means that this team can be very positive about its future.

Link to chatboard

Credit to Fiona and Harry for the reports and pics.

Harry (and the rest of us) wishes to thank everybody who helped out Sunday.